Certain treatments require the temporary or permanent interruption or modification of select nerve function. One example treatment is renal nerve ablation which is sometimes used to treat conditions related to congestive heart failure. The kidneys produce a sympathetic response to congestive heart failure, which, among other effects, increases the undesired retention of water and/or sodium. Ablating some of the nerves running to the kidneys may reduce or eliminate this sympathetic function, which may provide a corresponding reduction in the associated undesired symptoms.
Many nerves (and nervous tissue such as brain tissue), including renal nerves, run along the walls of or in close proximity to blood vessels and thus can be accessed intravascularly through the walls of the blood vessels. In some instances, it may be desirable to ablate perivascular renal nerves using a radio frequency (RF) electrode. However, such a treatment may result in thermal injury to the vessel wall at the electrode and other undesirable side effects such as, but not limited to, blood damage, clotting and/or protein fouling of the electrode. Increased cooling in the region of the nerve ablation may reduce such undesirable side effects.
Therefore, there remains room for improvement and/or alternatives in providing for systems and methods for intravascular nerve modulation.